Welcome to Chippendales

I was hooked on this from the first minute. I'd watched the documentary a few years previous and could remember it being a fascinating story of betrayal, jealousy and murder, so I was intrigued to see how it played out.

It grabs your attention straight away and shows the rise of the famous chippendales, from sleazy club show, to worldwide domination.

Great performances from everyone involved, especially the lead playing Steve Banerjee.

It's sad to see what could have been everyone's dream come true end in such a dramatic way, but makes for great tv drama.

The "feel" of the show was very similar to Pam & Tommy, but with a much bigger, more serious storyline. Id say if you liked Pam & Tommy, you'll love this.

Update: I didn't realize this was a mini series - my bad. That explains the fast pace development. Overall it was enjoyable, but it would have been so much better as a continuing series.

I watched the most recent documentary about Chippendales, which made me interested in checking this show out to see how much it aligned.

There's a bunch of creative liberties, I'm sure, but the writing and acting seem to be on point. The show is pretty fast-paced in terms of how the club progressed compared to how the documentary laid it out, but I think it's because they want more time to develop the characters (so you are be able to see their good sides before you see their bad sides).

I'm super impressed by the accuracy of the costumes, hair/makeup and even the cinematography. They actually try to make it look like a show that was filmed back then with the filters and shooting styles (e.g. Slow pan ins from far away). If you're a film buff, you'll appreciate the subtleties.

I'm excited to see where this goes and hope it stays on track. I'm also hoping they give some time to develop storylines for some of the dancers, since in the documentary they had a lot of stories to tell - plus, it's always interesting to see from a different side of the business.

The sets, costumes , and feel are 100% authentic. Amazing job Hulu. The casting is dead on perfect as well Murray Bartlett again, as he did in White Lotus, shines the brightest. Glad to see he has been noticed in Hollywood. But the story is one I had no idea of and didn't know how dark it was. Or the twists and turns it took. And I know this isn't 100% accurate. But that's not the point of the show. It's immensely engaging and entertaining. And the direction and pacing also are perfect. This is one of those seires that will end and leave one longing for more. But in this case there won't be. But enjoyable while it lasts.

If you remember the grifter in "Nightmare Alley," a movie from 2021 starring Bradley Cooper, you will notice that grifter's life trajectory is pretty similar to Steve Banerjee's. From rags to riches, they both get too greedy for their own good, only causing their demise. It is very sad that some people don't know when to stop and just be grateful. When I start the first episode of "Welcome to Chippendales," I have no idea what it's about and who the actors are. But it is an extremely pleasant surprise that it is starred by four major powerhouses in their own right: my favorite Murray Bartlett who is outstanding in "The White Lotus," Juliette Lewis who is an Oscar nominee at 18 years old, comedian Kumail Nanjiani who apparently has very good dramatic acting chops, and the underrated Annaleigh Ashford. This series hits all of the right notes. It has very good production values, good eye candy, some humor, suspense, and the important moral lesson to be learned from the downward spiral of Steve Banjeree's greedy life, similar to the sad geeker/grifter in "Nightmare Alley."

First off, the actors all do a phenomenal job and really nail it. I've been a huge fan of Kumail Nanjiani ever since he voiced Prismo in Adventure Time, fans will be happy to know he brings his usual air of charm to this as well.

As a whole, it's really engaging and well made. The pacing of the first episode is a bit rushed, while some shows take 2 hours of content and turn it into 6 episodes, the first episode could've been extended to two. Otherwise the pacing is pretty great and the writing is well done for a biopic.

For a biopic. Unfortunately, it falls into some traps that every biopic does. It does that thing where the main character has a moment of inspiration that you know didn't happen in real life, and various other things for dramatic effect.

Normally that's fine, but the thing is that the way it actually happened in real life was even weirder and probably would've been more entertaining.

On top of that, where I take issue with it is with Paul Snider and Dorothy Stratten. While everything else is harmless, in reality Paul and Dorothy were much more tragic characters. The show makes Paul a more empathetic character, but.... I'd urge people to read their story Paul was more monstrous than the show makes him out to be and I actually think it does the audience a disservice to act like they can't handle it.